ILLUSTRATED:

The Landscape on the Canvas Hong Ling was born in Beijing in 1955 and of Bai minority nationality. His ancestral home is located in Yunnan Province. He graduated from Fine Arts Department of Beijing Capital Normal University and the postgraduate course of Oil Painting Department of Central Ac ademy of Fine Ar t s (CAFA for short) in early years. He is currently an associate professor at the third studio of Oil Painting Department of CAFA. His unique thoughts about oil painting caused widespread concern back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hong Ling continued participating in art activities held in overseas and China, and taking part the domestic and foreign art work exhibition. He was invited to participate in the 47th Venice Biennale Exhibition in 1997, and his works had been selected into the blue book of world celebrity. His works has been collected by domestic and foreign art collection organization and collectors. His landscape oil paintings are diffirent from those that are familiar to people and his creative idea, which combined western oil painting with Chinese landscape painting, has become the turning point in modern landscape history.

Since oil painting imported into China, a large number of artists have tried to combine oil painting with Chinese traditional cultural, and to work out a new art way with Chinese culture spirit and oil painting essence. And the oil painting, a kind of painting derived from overseas, can contain more Chinese culture aesthetic characteristics. Artist Hong Ling is a model representative who has dedicated himself into the course of combining Chinese painting with western one, and has made a great success. Liu Xilin said in The landscape on the canvas-comments on Hong Ling's oil paintings: "In the art world of Hong Ling, Chinese landscape painting combined with western oil painting. And this has enlightened us that the common sense not only exists in two kind of brushworks with different culture backgrounds, but also exists the probability of communication by the art language. It will further inspire us to introject the aesthetic character.. Hong Ling is already aware of learning from the nature and hitting in the heart. He observes west while contains tradition, and he uses oil paint as pen and ink to express his feelings through landscape paintings. It has provided the possibility of improving aesthetic character of the oil landscape painting."

Hong Ling, by his Chinese landscape study and practice in the early years, and his deep research about western oil painting art in the following subsequent period, coupled with his own talent and courage, has opened up a clement foundation and generous promising art road. His Chinese ink landscape in the early years had self-experience and selfunderstanding of its language factors. After that, he learned oil painting, like others, he can freely use both painting languages and gradually infiltrate into his individual exploration which he called Landscape Painting. For Hong Ling, landscape is only a certain creation theme, painting is only a medium, he wants to create Chinese Oil Painting, not just show some Oriental symbols, not only surface of national customs, not even establish a little bit landscape theme, but find his own language. What Hong Ling's creation relied on is the great Chinese traditional culture, simultaneously, it has integrated the creative ways and techniques of Western oil painting.

Huang Binhong once said: "The nature is much greater than human and people cannot compare with nature. But art is greater than nature and nature cannot compare with art." Hong Ling's landscape oil painting matches Huang Binhong's art ideal which concerns form of landscape, light and air. After absorbed Huang's ink gather method, Hong has a better understanding about oil cover layer, thick oil and elegant outlines. He used western oil paint skill and eastern traditional brush spot to find out the match point of soul and nature, abstract and representational, imaginary and realistic and many other antagonism factors. He has put beauty of Chinese ink into oil painting, using black outlines to strengthen the tension of the work. Modeling by color and imagine by landscape is the speciality of Hong Ling's oil landscape paintings. Hong Ling's oil painting has focused on unitary feeling, seeking spirit and natural combination. It has specific temperament and style, profound and vigorous. Shi Tianzhong, a famous art critic, thinks that in contemporary art landscapes, Hong Ling is the first one who shaped individual interest from the contrast and the combination of ink landscape painting and oil scenery painting.

Just like what Hong Ling said that his painting creation had been through many explorations and changes, even involved pure abstract, then his way, which explored new oil painting from ink landscape had set up. It has gradually developed into this unique art feature. For this, Hong has really spent much time working on it, such as abrogating focus perspective, light and shadow, without time limitation. He gave up sketch an plunged into integration; he abandoned visual interpretation of scenery and entered into subjective created situation. Thi s proces s i s a length by lengt h exploration, difficult but enjoyable.

The Power of Meditation

Hong Ling uses his unique method to show remote and fresh landscape in the south of China. The green rocks and hill is genial and remote under the humid smoke and hazy sky. From the creative mind of the artist in recent years, the painting shows the features of "indifferent" and "tranquil", delivering a sense of art direction. Artist personally once described his understanding of the natural scenery:

Four seasons in the south of Anhui Province are clearly divided, but I prefer the indifferent and leisureful autumn. Autumn in the south of Anhui Province is beautiful, though it comes not as abruptly as that in the north. Here, you had enough time to feast your eyes with the first falling leave, then the variegated and vicissitudes touch your heart. So you can enjoy autumn's luxury and extravagance, and soften the dreariness. Such a sad melody that southern autumn veiled in the drizzling rain can last till people set up the fire in flurry winter, and go through long and slow winter to hope the spring coming early. Every time immersed in this unfixed autumn chant, I recalled mournful sound, and brought me back to the childhood. Then I would remember the northern autumn that better than spring. In those days, gustiness could wake up your dream, then your thoughts would fly off in the sky with the falling leaves.

Close up to his paintings, they are frank, relaxing and interesting, but contain two profound cultures. The pursuit of Chinese and Western integration is heartfelt, which, of course, he has maked great efforts. Hong Ling has paid many attentions to absorb and melt the culture spirit of East and West, tradition and modern on the spiritual connotation. He has synthetically digested representation, imago, composition, abstraction and other factors. On the art creating road, he has fully used his own unique passion and wisdom, which enable them to transfer into cultural products.

"The new lands cape paint ings he constantly displayed these years are the nutrient fruits nourished by Chinese and Western paintings, and they are unprecedented. Personally, I thought that compared with other predecessors exploring on this language area, he is unique feature in language format, mixing and melting. This shows his personal charm, which is different from others. One of the important values is that it is the unique cultural representative at present. We might as well treat his exploring achievements as the model of Chinese contemporary oil landscape paintings." (Ge Pengren mentioned).

Analysis of the spirit layer of Hong Ling works, his works express kind pursuit to the massive and gentle nature. To people lived in this realistic world, his works have showed fresh and natural feelings, washing out people's soul, and they contain positive and healthy live attitude. The tranquil and peaceful aesthetic character, otherworldly artistic conception that recovered the simple and returned to the nature, can make us thinking human's position in the nature and the relationship between human and nature when we enjoy the everything on earth. It can also calm anxiety and utilitarian thoughts, inspire living courage. Whether from the perspective of sociology or psychology, Hong Ling's works have positive significance.